Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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Strengthen Canada Pension Plan instead of creating Ontario version
Saturday, October 19th, 2013
Premier Kathleen Wynne is right… to push the issue of pension reform with federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who so far has done nothing to address a clear and growing problem… benefits under the… Canada Pension Plan… are capped at $12,000 a year, far below the poverty line, which for many means a precarious old age… for the good of all, pensions should stay under the domain of Ottawa, which already has the systems in place to do the job properly… there’s no need to pay for such duplication.
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Bigger CPP would be better
Friday, October 18th, 2013
The Canada Pension Plan is one of the country’s great public policy successes. It’s national: If you change provinces, it moves with you. Same story if you change jobs. You’re covered even if you’re self-employed. It’s cheap compared with private savings options. It’s flexible: you can retire early or late, and how much you get out, come retirement, is determined by how much you put in while working… It has just one defect: it’s not ambitious enough. It’s just too small.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Pensions for the poor, or why governments should focus reform efforts on those who have the least
Thursday, October 17th, 2013
The 2008-9 global financial crisis has resulted in several stresses that did not exist in the previous two decades. Low financial returns in the past five years have made difficult accumulating retirement wealth. Many defined benefit plans have become insolvent, requiring cash-constrained employers to fund deficits. Slow global economic growth has discouraged Canadian governments from increasing payroll taxes to fund any enhancement of the CPP in fear of hurting employment. Governments are in deficit.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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Saving data to save the country
Friday, October 11th, 2013
In its 2012 Budget, Ottawa announced – with no warning − that it was dismantling the National Council of Welfare. This body had been set up by the federal government in 1962 to provide advice to the minister responsible for income security in Canada… the rules were far more convoluted than we had ever imagined and the rates of assistance were far lower than we ever thought possible. Over time, the welfare study became a powerful weapon in the war on poverty
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Ontario government has failed the poor, group says
Saturday, October 5th, 2013
In December 2008, the Ontario government announced a poverty reduction strategy with the target of reducing child poverty by 25 per cent in five years. That target has not been met… While initially the government implemented measures to reduce poverty such as introducing the Ontario Child Benefit allowance… over the last couple of years, the government has chosen to take the austerity path at the expense of Ontario’s poor.
Tags: budget, Health, homelessness, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Proposed changes to CPP spur momentum for pension reform
Thursday, October 3rd, 2013
PEI Finance Minister Wes Sheridan is trying to rally his colleagues around changes that would see the maximum CPP contribution rise to $4,681.20 a year from $2,356.20 starting in 2016, and the maximum annual benefit would increase to $23,400 from $12,150… The overall goal is to boost the savings rates of middle-income Canadians who earn less than six figures… Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa praised PEI’s plan and said he will be pushing for action later this year.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, pensions, standard of living
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Screwing veterans to balance the books
Thursday, October 3rd, 2013
Under the new charter, these lifetime support payments were replaced with one-time lump sum payments, up to a maximum of $250,000. Programs to help veterans retrain for civilian life or get an education were also launched. It hasn’t worked out. Injured veterans of recent operations, most notably the war in Afghanistan, are measurably worst off than they would have been under the old system.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, mental Health, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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No better time for an economics debate
Thursday, September 26th, 2013
Senator Segal has been… one of the most creative voices on economic policy…. Segal advocates for a guaranteed annual income, a policy that has friends on both the left and the right, but evidently very few in the centre of the economic policy consensus. But he has advanced good arguments about the afflicted among us for a long time, and that is worth saluting. A good argument about economics is too rare in Canada. A byelection here is a good time to have one.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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How scarcity shapes our lives
Wednesday, September 25th, 2013
The Princeton psychologist outlined to an auditorium full of academics, policy-makers and non-profit leaders how scarcity – of food, income, time, sleep, security, friendship – impairs people’s judgment and locks them into patterns of behavior that compound their misery. And he showed how simple changes in the way they organize their lives can set them on a healthier path.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, housing, ideology, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
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Society can afford to care for least fortunate
Tuesday, September 24th, 2013
Canada has a guaranteed income for seniors and Ontario tops it up further. At the moment the annual payment is $16,542 for singles and $27,050 for couples. A single person on Ontario Disability Support Payments gets $10,584, a couple $14,268. Whether the right number is $16,500 or $20,000 can be debated, but a simple guaranteed income for the disabled is the minimum requirement for a social safety net in a wealthy society.
Tags: budget, disabilities, ideology, mental Health, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
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